New Flooring

Danjamin1

My wife and I are currently at a bit of a deadlock at the moment about what to do with our ground level floors in our house. We're both in agreement that they need a bit of sprucing up but can't agree on what's best to do.

The floors that are currently there are hardwood maple floors. My preference is to have the existing floors sanded & varnished to refurbish them. In my opinion it would be a shame to take them up as people who know better than me have commented that they are good quality floors. The benefit is that you retain a good quality floor, the risk is you don't know exactly how it will turn out.

My wife's preference is to rip up the floors and put down new ones. It's undecided whether it would be new hardwood floors, semi-solid floors or laminate that would go down. Cost could obviously be a bit of a driver here. The benefits of doing this is that you know exactly what you're getting with the new floor, the risk is you could end up with a lesser quality floor than what is currently there.

The cost of refurbishing the existing floors is roughly the same as the cost of purchasing new laminate floors + installation. The cost would increase if we went for semi-solid floors and would increase again if we went for new hardwood floors.

My concern with just ripping up the floor and replacing it is that you could end up with a poorer quality floor. In my opinion it would be better to refurbish the floors and if it doesn't turn out the way you like then you can go ahead with one of the other options. This could be a bit of a gamble as we could end up paying for two pieces of work to be done. On the other hand by ripping up the existing floors and replacing it you're getting a floor that you know what the finished product will look like. My issue with this is there's no going back to the old floor and it could work out more expensive.

TL;DR
I'm looking at either refurbishing a hardwood floor or replacing it with either new hardwood, semi-solid or laminate flooring.

Does anyone have any experience of doing this or any advice?

antoinolachtnai

A lot depends on how much you can afford to spend and how much you like new-looking things. If you can afford new hardwood floors and like the look of the new ones more, then sure, do that, but it will be expensive, a lot more expensive than fixing up the floors you have.

Replacing hardwood floors with laminate? There are reasons to do it. Laminate is more practical in many ways. You can get great laminate flooring these days, but it's not the same as hardwood.

Personally I wouldn't pull up a solid hardwood floor unless there was a really good reason. The wear is part of the 'look' of it. Even if you refurb it, it's not going to look like a brand new floor, but it's not supposed to. It's a great feature for a house.

Unless you really don't like the look of the floor, if I were you I would spend the money on a really nice piece of furniture.

Danjamin1

Thanks for replying!

The nice piece of furniture is the catalyst for doing the floors as it happens - we're replacing the fireplace.

We went and looked at new flooring over the weekend and I was surprised to see the quality of the laminate flooring. My experience of laminate was that it was very cheap and this showed in the quality of it but it does seem to have come a long way. I am definitely a bit biased towards hardwood which is why I'm in favour of keeping the current floor. From what I understand laminate & even semi-solid is harder wearing than hardwood though. We have a large dog and the wear & tear of us combined with him is one of the factors that would be in favour of the alternatives.

antoinolachtnai

Well, if you have the floor down already, I wouldn't change it. But to each their own.

looksee

I have two laminate floors and two wooden floors, and I would not hesitate to have laminate again. On the other hand if the existing floor is good quality and can be refurbished, I would do that. I would be reluctant to rip out perfectly good floors and replace them, though if I did it would be with laminate. Of course you will need a subfloor under either laminate or semi-solid so you could even go with putting the new floor on top of the old one. Then you have to take off all the skirtings and alter the doors etc.

Danjamin1

looksee wrote: »

I have two laminate floors and two wooden floors, and I would not hesitate to have laminate again. On the other hand if the existing floor is good quality and can be refurbished, I would do that. I would be reluctant to rip out perfectly good floors and replace them, though if I did it would be with laminate. Of course you will need a subfloor under either laminate or semi-solid so you could even go with putting the new floor on top of the old one. Then you have to take off all the skirtings and alter the doors etc.

Yeah this is something I've considered as well, the laminate or semi-solid would need to be put down on plywood to bring it up to the current floor level, I definitely don't want to be replacing doors & skirting. Though I think taking up the floors at all is going to result in the skirting coming off.

Good to know you've had a good experience with laminate though, I won't write it off so quickly!

antoinolachtnai

The other thing to consider is what sort of house this is. If it's more than 40 years old, the hardwood floor will likely fit more with the 'style' of the house.

As has been suggested, you could lay the laminate on top of the hardwood.

tabby aspreme

Op you could sand and lacquer a small section of the old floor to see what it would look like, before you decide to change it .

Candlemania

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Op you could sand and lacquer a small section of the old floor to see what it would look like, before you decide to change it .

I was gonna say the same.

I would just maybe not do it in the middle of the room, in case the stains penetrate the wood to a different degree. Maybe try testing it in a spot where a sofa would usually stand.

There is such a variety of stains for maple flooring these days. It can be white-washed, too, for more contemporary look. Photos attached. Let us know when you decide what you're gonna go for and how it came out!

tabby aspreme

It is very difficult to stain maple evenly without ending up having dark blotches on it, due to the fine pores in maple and occasional end grain on the planks surface . The timber in the picture looks like oak.

Danjamin1

I'll post an update with before & after pictures, we've settled on sanding & sealing the floor (thankfully!) so it'll be interesting to see the result.